The Subaru World Rally Team has today unveiled the latest evolution of its rally challenger, the Impreza WRC2007, which will make its competitive debut on Rally Mexico (March 9-11) in the hands of Petter Solberg/Phil Mills and Chris Atkinson/Glenn Macneall.

As with previous incarnations of the iconic rally car, the Impreza WRC2007 is the result of a close collaboration between the teams of engineers and designers within Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd and Subaru Tecnica International (STI) in Japan and the Subaru World Rally Team in England.

The creation of the WRC2007 is a sign of Subaru’s ongoing commitment to the World Rally Championship as a way of proving the superior performance, reliability and safety of the Impreza model. Although the latest World Rally Car is outwardly similar to its predecessor, a number of key engineering improvements have justified the production of a new car for the remainder of this season.

“Externally, the differences are relatively subtle. The front bumper has been restyled to suit the new radiator pack and the bonnet vents are different – we have twin side exits on the bonnet this time rather than one central one.”

As the basis of a rally winning machine, few cars can match the competitive pedigree of the Impreza. First launched in 1992, the road car has developed in tandem with its rallying counterpart and over the last 13 seasons, the Impreza has scored 46 WRC victories and lessons learned on the rally stages have been fed back into the production model.

The team has used the WRC2006 for the first three rallies of the 2007 season and has scored points on each outing. In parallel, the new car has been undergoing testing on gravel roads in Italy and Spain. The two Subaru World Rally Team crews will drive the Impreza WRC2007 for Mexico and the subsequent 12 rounds of the WRC.

Today two Subaru Impreza WRC2007s were due to set off from the Subaru World Rally Team’s headquarters in Banbury, England to embark on the 5000-mile trip to Mexico in preparation for their debut in the World Rally Championship.